Interview with Koray Aldemir: the poker wizzard

Koray Aldemir, the poker wizzard

Koray Aldemir, one of the of the German child prodigy of poker, started in poker five years ago, but it's been the last year when Koray has consolidated his game with important victories such as the Triton Super High Roller of Manila and his previous third position in the High Roller One Drop, with a juicy $2,154,265 prize that meant his biggest victory until now.

Quite a regular of Vegas Season, Koray Aldemir chopped last week over $800.000 in prizes. At the moment 12th in the Germany All The Time Money List, we believe many more victories will come but in the meantime we had the pleasure of interviewing him.

-Hi Koray, thanks for having the time for our interview. How do you start playing poker?

It started as a hobby about 10 years ago, we were playing with friends every now and then. Actually the first time I was playing, I barely knew the rules, but somehow got lucky and won, that’s probably why I liked the game in the first place :)

Later on I started playing more after I met guys who were already successful in Poker that helped me work on my game.

-You win your first tournament at 22 and after that, you jump right away into the international circuit. What are your first memories of these first international tournaments especially when you manage to end ITM?

It was very exciting. Especially running deep in a tournament always brings this special feeling with it. I still have it, but it was probably more special the first few times. I wasn’t very successful in the live field at first though, I had a few deep runs, but never really had a big score until last year.

-Whenever no live tournaments, do you regularly play online? How is your day-to-day life like?

I actually do not play that much online anymore. I’ve been traveling the live circuit a lot in the last year or so and whenever I am home, I try to meet friends and family and do things besides poker. I put in an online session every now and then though, I won’t deny that ;)

-Congratulations for your recent victories at Aria Casino: first position in Aria High Roller 62 and second position the day before. Pretty big for the weekend! Since the beginning of your career, you have proved not to miss a Vegas season, and lately we can see you more into High Rollers that regular tournaments. Which ones do you prefer?

Thank you! Yes, I also chopped the one the week before, so that is a pretty good run. I have to admit that I enjoy the highroller tournaments a lot more at the moment. It is a lot of fun to play with the best of the game. Everyone knows each other and the atmosphere is always great. I am also a huge fan of the shotclock that most of the highroller tournaments have nowadays.

-We believe last year’s third position at the One Drop High Roller in Vegas felt amazingly great, but apart of this one, your biggest live victory until now, which victory did mean more to you?

Other than the One Drop, the Summer Solstice, my first huge score, meant the most to me, although I did not win the bracelet. It was by far my biggest win, a game changer and the start of an amazing last summer for me.

-WPT, WSOP, different circuits…Any tournament in particular you are really eager to win?

I probably have to go with a classic answer here, the WSOP Main Event :)

Interesting, I’d say no reentries for Main Event type events, like EPT/WPT Mains, etc. including special events like bracelet events. These tournaments usually have a lot of qualifiers/amateurs and I think it’d be better for the game if every participant has the same chance of winning them.I am absolutely for reentries in for example (super-)highroller events though, they have the same players every time anyways and I don’t really see a downside in those kind of events.

-How do you picture yourself in ten years? Do you see yourself still playing poker? Is it something you choose or poker “chooses” you?I doubt that I will still be in Poker in 10 years. But who knows ;)

Thanks you Koray for your time. We believe you’re doing such an amazing season and we wish you the best.

Our use of cookies and other tracking technologies allows us to improve our Web site and your Web experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. OK |
More Information